New tool helps model forest traits and evolution

Researchers have developed plant, a software framework, to investigate how plant species differing in traits may be able to coexist with one another.

The core rules in plant concern the short-term physiological functioning of an individual plant and how this is influenced by its traits, size, and light environment. plant provides a transparent platform for investigating how physiological rules and functional trade-offs interact with competition and disturbances to influence and diversity.

The tool is described in a Methods in Ecology and Evolution article. The article is part of a Demography Beyond the Population Special Feature that is a unique large-scale ecological collaboration including articles in all six British Ecological Society journals. Its goal is to highlight the potential of demography to connect across scales and inform a broad range of questions in ecology and evolution.

More information: Daniel S. Falster et al. : A package for modelling forest trait ecology and evolution , Methods in Ecology and Evolution (2016). DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12525

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Citation: New tool helps model forest traits and evolution (2016, February 22) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-02-tool-forest-traits-evolution.html
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